F1 Nurse- Charles Leclerc

10.

Madeleine's POV

As I open my eyes, I see that it is still night-time. A heaviness settles on my midsection as I move to find my phone to check the time. When I look down, I see that Charles has his arm around me and is holding me. I hear him mumble, "Where you going, mon amour?" as I reach for the nightstand to get my phone.  I respond in a hushed voice, "just checking the time," urging him to get back to sleep.

2:47am

As I am making my way back to bed after using the bathroom, I pause to peer inside Thea's cot. I had been really fortunate with Thea; after the first few months, she consistently slept through the night.  I hadn't planned on Charles spending the night in our room, and I certainly hadn't intended to sleep with him, but yet it felt natural. The depth of my longing for his embrace and absence from my life didn't hit me until now. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that I might be playing with fire.  When I get back into bed, Charles puts his arm around me again and pulls me to his chest, kissing my forehead softly.I had to ask questions about Paris; I couldn't keep it in any longer. I look up at him and blurt out, "Charles, i need to know what happened after Paris" before I could stop myself.  He smiles softly at me and puts his hand on my cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb. I stare at him and say, "Please, i just need to know what i did" as I lean my face in his hand."Madeleine, you didn't do anything; just hear me out okay?" As he continues to stroke my face. While I lay in his arms, staring at him, I realise how much I need this closure.

He takes a deep breath, and the mere anticipation of what he might say makes my stomach churn.

"The week I got to spend with you, Madeleine, was the happiest week of my life. Until that week with you, I had never felt anything like that. Although it may sound ridiculous, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you outside the garage two years ago."

I have no reaction whatsoever because I was caught off guard by his words.

He goes on, "When Fred took unwell, Maria stepped in as team principal until he was well enough to return to work. The plan after I dropped you off at the airport was for us to start dating seriously; in fact, I had already planned to surprise you during our two-week break between races."

 I am completely perplexed by what he is saying and glance up at him.

"Charles," I cut in, "what you're telling me and what you actually did don't make any sense. How can you say all this when your behaviour towards me was the exact opposite?"

"Madeleine, please listen to me. It'll all make sense once you let me finish" he tries to reassure me.  "As soon as I got home, Maria summoned me to a meeting. She told me that the image that Ferrari was striving for prevented us from being together. The gist of what she said was that you were just an ordinary girl, therefore I had to stop things with you.  Apparently, we were only allowed to date models and not average nurses, as she put it.  She said that she envisioned Ferrari drivers having public relationships with their girlfriends, and since you had saved Fred's life, while it was uncertain whether he would survive, she said, If Fred didnt make it, it would be bad press for me to be with the girl that had been involved."

"Before you jump to conclusions, I told her I wasn't prepared to end things with you, and that's when she threatened to take my seat away from me—and Arthur, my brother's seat, too."

 I can see the hurt in his eyes. I can still recall how he would talk about Arthur with such much love and how, after their father passed away, he had really taken to being Arthur's protector.

"If she had merely threatened to take my seat, I would have walked away and let her have it. But I just couldn't let Arthur down like that," he sobs as I look on.

I gently wipe his tears away as I hushed him.

"I couldn't do that to Arthur; he's just gotten back to being himself after the loss of Papa. He probably wouldn't have gotten another chance at a seat if that happened to him."

I can finally see how it all fits together. However, there is still a discrepancy.

"But you have a girlfriend now?" I ask him, having totally forgotten about her up until this point.  "Charlotte and I have known each other since we were kids. Its a PR relationship" he tells me, "She's seeing someone else behind closed doors, and we only hang out at public events together." Although I am perplexed, Charles assures me that public relations relationships are normal in the celebrity industry

.

"So, now that Thea is a part of your life, what happens with Charlotte?" I inquire as I glance at our sleeping little daughter's cradle feeling myself beginning to get slightly protective.

He raises my chin up to meet his eyes, and I return his gaze. He kisses me gently on the lips and says, "I'll call Charlotte first thing and we'll arrange to break up through the press. We had been chatting about how she is getting more serious with her actual boyfriend for a some time now".

"This is so screwed up Charles, it's like something out of a fiction story," I tell him, still finding it difficult to wrap my brain around the idea that people will appear to be in a relationship when they aren't.  "Do not do anything that could endanger either your or Arthur's seats" Knowing that this is probably not going to end well for one of us, I tell him, "Me and Thea have managed fine up until now, i wouldn't expect you to give everything up and ruin your brother's career."

"My sweetheart, Fred has returned. I will go in to see him before qualifying and tell him everything. Don't fret; everything is going to be alright" he assures me "and i know you and Thea have been fine up until now. You have been a wonderful mother to our daughter, and I couldn't have wished for a greater one. But im here now and im not going anywhere. Madeleine, I want us to be a family. I want us to try again. In Paris, I saw a vision of my future with you that no one else had ever given me" He stares into my eyes as he gently strokes my cheek with his thumb. "Now I see a whole future with you and our baby girl."

"Can you give me another chance to prove it?" he pleads.

I know I'm taking a risk here, but all I've ever wanted for Thea was for her to have a happy family, and I can tell by the look on his face that he means it. I lean in for a kiss, and as it deepens and gets more passionate, I climb on top of him and straddle him while kissing his neck.